After you have spent hundreds of hours and money on
your Lambo replica, it will not be long before someone asks to see the
"Engine." In the past, this was one of the most over-looked aspects of
builders, simply because you are not going to find a real Lamborghini V12
engine to install in a KitCar and still keep a rational build budget.
There have been many attempts to disguise the real "power plant" but none
have come close enough to "pass" as the original V12, until now.
Lambostuff (http://www.lambostuff.com/) took the
"next step" in providing an economical way to finally make that engine
look so real that it would fool a real Lamborghini owner.

Until recently the only two materials
commonly used to build Lambo replicas was fiberglass or steel, both of
which are messy or hard to work with. The end results do not look or
feel like aluminum, which is what the Lambo engine is all about,
aluminum! Lambostuff's parts are unique, because instead of
fiberglass or sheet metal they used high impact plastic composite (The
same material used in the stock LS1's Intake), poured into a Dow Corning
silicone mold that was made from a real Lamborghini intake. The result is
an identical replica of the original that not only looks like aluminum it
also feels like it too.

The "main" pieces of the V12 cover are the
intake sides and runners. These were the first of many "optional" parts
that have been produced. Their parts are not a "one size fit all" so it
must be fitted to your engine, which means the first step is to make metal
mounting pates and brackets. Before you do anything, you will need to
determine the initial placement of the intake's top & sides in
relation to the body. Is a good idea to temporarily mount your
engine if you have not done so already, so you know how much room you have
to work with. Once you have determined placement, you can start making
your mounting plates to securely fasten the pieces to the engine.
Plastic is a little different than fiberglass and since the plastic is a
polyurethane polymer they used flat steel and tapped bolt holes along the
runners. The metal plates provide a perfect surface to tack weld
brackets that will later bolt to the engine. Although composite
plastic will not melt and can withstand temperatures over 475 deg, you
still have to be careful only to "spot tack" while the plastic is mounted
to the brackets, to prevent damage to the plastic or engine. Once the
supports were done they can be removed to be fully welded. You then
re-install the pieces using tapped bolts and Polyurethane
construction adhesive or epoxy to increase the strength. The main
"finished" assembly is very strong and now ready to mount to the
engine.

A real Lamborghini does not have valve
covers, it uses a two-piece head that is bolted together, so to replicate
the look, they made a piece that has the 6 spark plug holes to cover the
real engine's valve covers. Making essentially a
"Valve-cover-cover." It happens to work perfectly on an LS1 where
the first hole is the same location and size as the oil fill plug. You can
then remove the oil fill extension and the coil packs to provide a flat
mounting surface. To increase the protection from the headers you
can make a steel cover or heat shield that not only protects the pieces
since they were so close to the headers, but it also provided a good flat
mounting surface for the covers.

At this point you have a great illusion and
disuse, however a perfectionist can take it to another level. We
don't have to tell you, details are what makes or breaks a disguise.
Items such as spark plugs, wires, hoses, injectors and plugs,
distributor cap, throttle bodies, connecting linkage
etc... are part of any automotive engine so lacking them could ruin
your illusion. Knowing this, Lambostuff added all of these options
to their kits to fully detail your V12 engine compartment. The
interesting thing about all of these parts is that they are molded from
real parts so everything looks and feels authentic. The injectors come as
if they were removed from a real car but are 100% plastic. Since the LS1's
intake uses much of the center area of the engine, there is not much room
however you can simply cut the injectors in half exposing the top portion,
which is what is only part that is seen. Then 12 small brackets are made
to mount the "Injectors" these can be topped off with real
electrical plugs and wire! If that wasn't enough how about replica spark
plug ends? You can get either solid plastic or rubber like the
originals. They even made a Oil fill cap with the spark plug
end to hid the LS1's oil fill location. Using vacuum tubing to simulate
the wires you can connect them to a V12 Distributor cap for the perfect
touch. There are no limits on what you can do today. If you didn't
notice the engine in the photos has 4 extra (non-functioning) exhaust
pipes... V8... what V8?

So what is this cost to do? lambostuff
offers the main intake pieces starting at around $595 and the rest is all
optional. If you don't need or want all the optional Lambo parts you can
always scavenge parts from a salvage yards or leave them off. No matter
how you do yours, it is still far less than a real V12 and much easier to
install and remove. Since you custom fit the parts to your engine it
can literally fit any engine and make it custom to your
application.

This is a picture of a Real
Lamborghini SV

This a is a picture of the
Lambostuff's Intake over an LS1 V8 engine (work in
progress)

Left and right
Intake and runners

Just some of the
other pieces Lambostuff makes for the V12 cover

Initial test fit
of the runners

The runners are
sanded down to contour the LS1's intake

Metal rods are
installed with epoxy to provide an area to weld to.

The plastic is
prepped and has bolt holes drilled to hold the mounting
plate.

Polyurethane
construction adhesive is added for strength

The mounting
strip being permanently mounted.

One of the engine
brackets attached to the mounting plate.

Plastic can be
cut, sanded drilled and tapped. This is the throttle body
mounts.

The two halves of
the runners are welded together and the Fuel Injector brackets
made.

The valve cover
mounting plate and heat shield was made out of 3/16 flat steel and
heat shield adhesive used to back it.

The Valve covers
are prepped to attach the fake spark plug ends.

The finished
Valve cover and "spark plug wires"

Finishing touches
such as OEM injectors make the disguise more authentic.

Did you count the
exhaust pipes? Two "fake" pipes were added on each side to complete
the V12 look.

from the rear you
can see some of the mounting brackets that were made to securely
fasten the completed cover in place.